MidoriCharles Abramovic

Zankel Hall

This brilliant program of music by living composers highlights both the vibrant diversity of contemporary composition and Midori’s stellar skills. In addition to music by the British Watkins, the Scottish MacMillan, and the Japanese Hosokawa, Midori performs the rumbling, swinging Road Movies, a piece that to Midori is “quintessential John Adams.”

Performers

Charles Abramovic, Piano

Midori, Violin

Program

HUW WATKINS Coruscation and Reflection

BRETT DEAN Berlin Music (NY Premiere)

TOSHIO HOSOKAWA Vertical Time Study III

JAMES MACMILLAN After the Tryst

JOHN ADAMS Road Movies

Bios

Charles Abramovic

Charles Abramovic has won critical acclaim for his international performances as a
soloist, chamber musician, and collaborator with leading instrumentalists and singers. He
made his solo orchestral debut at the age of 14 with the Pittsburgh Symphony. Since then,
he has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras and has given solo recitals throughout
the US, France, and Yugoslavia.

Mr. Abramovic has also appeared at major international festivals in Berlin, Bermuda,
Dubrovnik, and Vancouver. With a wide range of acclaimed recordings to his name, he serves
as a professor of keyboard studies at Temple University's Boyer College of Music and Dance
in Philadelphia. In 1997, he received the Career Development Grant from the Musical Fund
Society of Philadelphia, and in 2003 received the Creative Achievement Award from Temple
University.

Mr. Abramovic is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and The Peabody Institute of
the Johns Hopkins University, and he received his doctorate from Temple University.

Since her debut at the age of 11 with the New York Philharmonic more than 25
years ago, Midori has established a record of achievement that sets her apart as a master
musician, an innovator, and a champion of the developmental potential of children. Named a
United Nations Messenger of Peace by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2007, she has
created a new model for young artists who seek to combine the joys and demands of a
performing career at the highest level with a hands-on investment in the power of music to
change lives.

Midori's performance schedule is balanced between recitals, chamber-music performances,
and appearances with the world's most prestigious orchestras. Midori's 2010-2011 season
includes new-music recitals and workshops; tours of the US, Europe, and Asia; and
increasing her already extensive commitment to music education in her capacity as chair of
the string department at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music.
Among the conductors with whom Midori collaborates during the 2010-2011 season are
Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Donald Runnicles, Alan Gilbert, Antonio Pappano, Kent Nagano, and
Edo de Waart.

In 1992, Midori founded Midori & Friends, a nonprofit organization in New York that
brings music education programs to thousands of underprivileged children each year. Two
other organizations, Music Sharing, based in Japan, and Partners in Performance, based in
the US, also bring music closer to the lives of people who may not otherwise have
involvement with the arts. Midori's commitment to community collaboration and outreach
extends beyond these organizations to her work with young violinists in master classes all
over the world, and to her Orchestra Residencies Program in the US. In 2010-2011, Midori
conducts community-engagement programs in Tennessee, New York, Maine, Iowa, Japan,
Bulgaria, and Laos.

Midori's two most recent recordings are an album of sonatas by Bach and Bartók and The
Essential Midori, a two-CD compilation. Like most of her recordings, both are issued
by Sony Masterworks.

Midori's violin is the 1734 Guarneri del Gesu "ex-Huberman," which is on lifetime loan to
her from the Hayashibara Foundation.

With special thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan; the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan; Japan Tourism Agency; Japan National Tourism Organization; the Japan Foundation; and the Consulate-General of Japan in New York.

Audio

Adams Road Movies (I. Relaxed Groove)

Leila Josefowicz, Violin / John Novacek, Piano

Nonesuch

At a Glance

“It has always been my philosophy,” Midori has remarked, “that music
should be heard in the time in which it was written.” This concert is a
testament to that statement: Not only does it include a near-premiere,
but even the oldest work was written a mere 23 years ago. Stylistic
diversity abounds, with all pieces sculpted from the composers’
respective nationalities: Welsh, Australian/German, Japanese, Scottish,
and American.